New cases of coronavirus are doubling almost weekly across England, figures revealed, as Birmingham became the biggest local authority to announce a tightening of lockdown measures and health officials flagged “worrying signs” of infections in elderly people.
The measures to be introduced in Birmingham next week mean more than 7.3 million people – 11% of the UK population – will be living in areas affected by some level of local lockdown, according to a Guardian analysis.After signs that the number of virus infections is accelerating sharply, the former UK government chief scientific adviser Sir David King urged ministers to improve the NHS test-and-trace system. He said England was on a “knife-edge”.
King’s warning came as the latest figures showed another huge surge in UK positive cases on Friday – up to 3,539, compared with 1,940 a week ago. While the number of people dying from Covid-19 remains low, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of patients in hospital in recent weeks. On Friday, it stood at 863, a rise of 120 from the week before.
Yvonne Doyle, the medical director of Public Health England, said there were signs of a worrying trend. “Although younger people continue to make up the greatest share of new cases, we’re now starting to see worrying signs of infections occurring in the elderly, who are at far higher risk of getting seriously ill.”
Deenan Pillay, a professor of virology at University College London, said available data showed less than 50% of people being asked to isolate were doing so properly.
With infection rates rising, the West Midlands councils of Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull announced that from Tuesday, they will no longer allow their 1.6 million residents to mix with different households.